Apparatus for producing false selvages upon woven fabrics



March 22, 1949. A. F. MOREL 2,465,254 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING FALSE SELVAGES .UPON WOVEN FABRICS Filed July 3, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l FMORLLJ.

Patented 1949 msnsrusroa raonucmo rAL'ss' sanvaozs pros woven rsnarcs Antoine Francois Morel. Denholme,

. Bradford, England I Application July a. 1m. Serial at. man

In Great Britain June 30. 1944 SClniml.

The invention has for its object to provide new or improved apparatus for producing false selvedges upon fabrics woven from artificial silk composed of cellulose derivatives, by fusing or' melting the edge or edges of said fabrics and subsequently permitting them to solidify, thus utilising the known inherent thermoplastic property of such fabrics to seal the edges thereof a ainst fraying.

According to the invention the new or improved apparatus for producing false selvedges upon fabrics woven from artificial silk composed of cellulose derivatives which are inherently thermoplastic is provided with means for mechanically traversing the fabric over gas burners mounted in proximity to said fabric, whereby the raw or frayed longitudinal edge or edges of said fabric is or are more or less melted and subsequently become solidified. The burners are adapted to be moved into or out of proximity to the fabric being treated and the flames of said burners are turned up when the burners are raised into proximity with the fabric being treated and are turned down when said burners are lowered, both of said movements being efl'ected simultaneously and automatically. The traversing means of the burners are interconnected with the driving means and witha hand lever whereby all the moving parts of said apparatus may be caused to start and stop simultaneously. The hand lever is connected with electric switch mechanism for controlling the prime mover; with brake mechanism for stopping the apparatus, and with the gas supply.

Fabric under treatment is drawn from a freely rotating bobbin or the like by a power driven bobbin and a plurality of pairs of rollers are interposed between the two bobbins under and between which passes the fabric, one of said pairs of rollers being power driven. Means are preferably associated with the freely rotating bobbin for retarding its movement.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, the same will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which Figure l is a front view of apparatus for producing false selvedges upon woven fab es and Figure 2 is a side view looking from t e right of Figure 1.

i is the framework of the apparatus or machine upon which is superposed and secured a member 2 in which are formedslots 3. Each of slots 3 has housed therein a pair of rollers l, 5, each pair of rollers being maintained under pressure by sprin -biassed upper bearings 6.

5 pulley a, which may be provided with a handle I.

II is a hand-operated lever pivoted at. Ii to frame I, and I2 is a further rod or lever pivoted at It to a bracket alsosecured to said frame. Upon the forward end of lever I2 is a projection or stud H which 'is adapted to engage the underside of the aforesaid lever III. II is a connecting rod secured at its upper end to lever l0 and at its lower end to any suitable or well known type of electric switch i8.

l5 i1 is an arm secured at its lower end to lever II, the upper end thereof being cranked or otherwise arranged to engage a cross member ll.

Outer extremity of rod I! has pivotally secured thereto a further lever ll whose lower end is attached to lever which is pivoted to a bracket or the like II on the frame of the machine.

Adjustably mounted in a slot or the like 22 of lever 20 is a Jockey pulley 23, whilst a further arm or lever 24 connects said lever with a pivoted brake arm 25 upon which is detachably secured a brake block 26.

21 is a grooved fly-wheel mounted upon an appropriate shaft 28, and 29 is a further grooved pulley also mounted upon shaft 28.

Securely held in member I8 is a pair of gas burners 36 which receive their supply of ,gas through flexible tubes if from a suitable supply pipe 32. 33 are springs mounted upon shafts It.

35 35 are supporting brackets for revoluble bobis a driving belt adapted to pass around fly-wheel 21 and around the pulley of an electric motor or other prime mover (not shown). ll is a further driving belt which transmits motion from pulley 28 to pulley 8, and 42 is a further belt transmitting drive from pulley I to pulley 31 forming part of the bobbin.

Assuming that a piece of wide artificial silk fabric has been longitudinally cut or divided into a plurality of pieces of narrow width fabric or ribbon, each of said ribbons X is wound upon a bobbin or container 36 which is then mounted in appropriate bracket 35 of the apparatus. The free end of said ribbon is next manually passed beneath roller 45, between the pair of rollers 5 and between driven rollers l, thence downwardly motor not shown): burners 30 are raised into closer proximity to ribbon or fabric X; lever 41 opens a further gas cock 48 positioned in pipe 32 to increase the size of the gas flames issuing from burners 30. Lever I9 is caused to move downwardly thereby pressing down lever and jockey pulley 23 which applies tension to belt 40, also depresses lever 24 to release brake 26 and thus enable said belt to-drive wheels 21 and 29.

Belt ll then transmits power from pulley 29 to pulley 8 on the bottom shaft of the pair of rollers 4. toothed wheel I thereon meshing with further toothed wheel 1 upon the upper shaft to also drive the upper roller 4; whilst belt 42 transmits drive from pulley 8 to bobbin 31.

In this manner the ribbon X is drawn from bobbin 36 under and between the several rollers and wound upon bobbin 31. During passage of said ribbon between the pair of rollers 4, 5,'the gas flame of the burners 30 singe the frayed edges thereof causing them to become moreor less melted. Following passage through the flames the melted edges immediately solidify and form very strong false selvedges which become even stronger after being washed or laundered during When it is desired to stop the machine, a reversal of the previously described movements of the various levers is simultaneously effected by the use of hand lever Iii, consequently no damage can occur to the ribbon caused by the proximity of the gas flames, and traverse of said ribbon also immediately ceases, thus there is no waste of material.

It must be understood that the main feature of the invention is to produce false selvedges upon artificial silk fabrics or ribbons by subjecting the edge or edges thereof to the action'of a flame or flames, and that the apparatus heretofore described is shown merely by way of example. The methods of operating the several levers, pulleys and the like may be varied or altered in any suitable manner, but in all cases, however, it is preferred to utilise mechanism which causes a simultaneous start or cessation of the various components.

Furthermore, the apparatus may be modified so that two or more widths of ribbon or fabrics may be simultaneously processed. Or the burners. bobbins and the like may be rendered adjustable in order that they may be altered to suit various widths of ribbons.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for producing false selvedges upon fabrics woven from artificial silk composed of cellulose derivatives which are inherently thermo-plastic, comprising a plurality of rollers under and between which the fabric is passed as it is drawn from one revoluble means and passed to another revoluble means, means for traversing the fabric over gas burners mounted in close proximity to said fabric, means for.mov'- ing the gas burners into and out of proximity to the fabric being treated. such movements being effected by mechanism linked to a gas control whereby the flame is automatically controlled, said burners during proximity with the fabric causing the raw or frayed longitudinal edges thereof to be more or less melted and subsequently solidified, thus forming a false selvedge.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein means-are provided for automatically turning up the flame of the gas burners when the same are moved towards the fabric and means for automatically turning down the flame of the burners when they are moved out of proximity with the fabric.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1. wherein the movements of the gas burners are effected by mechanism linked to the gas control whereby,

the gas flame or flames is or are automatically turned up when the burners are moved towards the fabric and said flames are automatically turned down when the 'burners are moved out of proximity with the fabric, and including manual means for moving the burners, traversing mechanism for the fabric and traversing mechanism for the burners interconnected with each other and to a. starting mechanism of a prime mover and to a. brake mechanism whereby all the moving parts of said apparatus are caused to start and stop simultaneously on movement of said manual means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the fabric to be treated is mounted upon a, freely rotating bobbin and is drawn therefrom by a mechanically driven bobbin, said plurality of rollers under and between which the fabric is passed on its journey from one bobbin to the other also being mechanically driven.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fabric to be treated is mounted upon a freely rotating bobbin and is drawn therefrom by a mechanically driven bobbin, said plurality of rollers under and between which the fabric is passed on its journey from one bobbin to the other also being mechanically driven, and wherein retarding means are associated with the freely rotatin8 bobbin.

ANTOINE FRANCOIS MOREL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,928,973 Elliott et a]. Oct. 3, 1933 2,035,138 Maxfleld Mar. 24, 1936 

